Apparatus for the liquid treatment of thread



Aug. 29, 1950 l l l I l l l 1 I] J. L. COSTA Filed March 13, 194'! APPARATUS FOR THE LIQUID TREATMENT OF THREADS llIIIIIIIl]l'lllll llllllllIlllllllllllfllllllllllll IN VEN TOR.

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APPARATUS FOR THE LIQUID TREATMENT OF THREAD Joseph L. .Costa, Scarsdale, N. Y., assignor to Oscar Kohorn & Co. Ltd., New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application March 13, 1947, Serial N 0. 734,438

improved method and apparatus for the liquid I aftertreatment of rayon threads.

In the manufacture of continuous filament rayon two methods have been generally em-' ployed. In the first method, the freshly spun rayon thread is wound upon a bobbin or is formed into acake by the centrifugal pot method. The wound rayon thread is then subjected, as a cake or as wound upon ,a bobbin or in the form of a skein, to the numerous liquid aftertreating steps, dried and coned. According to the second method, the freshly spun rayon is stored as continuously advancing helices by means of suitable reels, and while stored on such reels is subjected to liquid treatments, dried, and is thereafter coned. The equipment and machines for practicing the above method are characterized by their complexity and high cost. In the former method, that is, where the freshly spun rayon thread is wound into bundles and treated as such, a separate individual spinning and an extensive winding mechanism, such as a centrifugal pot or the like is required for each thread, and the time consumed for producing a pound of such thread is generally several hours. Thereafter, the bundles of thread must be manually deposited in a suitable liquid treating device where the bundles are subjected, for one or more hours, to liquid aftertreating steps. The bundles are then manually removed and placed on carriages whereon they are subjected to a humidity and temperature-controlled drying atmosphere for a period of many hours. In the latter or continuous spinning method the freshly spun rayon is advanced as a series of continuous connected liquid aftertreating stages, dried and coned. Although the time consumed for these operations is only a few minutes, the complexity of the apparatus employed is such as not to warrant its use in most cases. Moreover, a plurality of complex reeling devices is required for each spinning position.

There have been several types of apparatus employed for overcoming the above recited difiiculties, but these have rarely proved successful in practice, and possess numerous shortcomings. Typical of the proposed methods includes the step of depositing one or more parallel extending freshly spun threads upon a moving endless belt or screen and subjecting the transported threads to successive liquid treating stages. However, this method has not proven practical, since,

2 Claims. (Cl. 68205) where a screen is employed the filaments forming the thread are washed into and snared by the screen openings, thereby rupturing the filaments. Where an endless belt is employed, it has been found that the belt will not transport the thread, since the thread is not suitably anchored and is carried away by the treating fluid. There are other proposed systems too numerous to mention, which have not proved satisfactory.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for the treatment of thread. I

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for the liquid aftertreatment of freshly spun rayon.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for the simultaneous liquid treatment of a plurality of freshly spun rayon thread.

The above and further objects of the present invention will become apparent from the reading of the following description taken together with the accompanying drawing, wherein Fig. l is a perspective view of a portion of an apparatus embodying the present invention and by means of which the present improved method may be employed, and Fig. 2 is a side view of such apparatus.

The present invention broadly contemplates depositing in a continuously accumulated fashion a plurality of freshly spun rayon threads upon a moving sheet of granular material. The desired treating liquids are sprayed upon the threads as they are transported by the moving sheet of granular material and the recovered liquids may be discarded or replenished and re-circulated. The threads may be subjected to different successive liquids until the threads have been completely treated, whereupon they may be wound on suitable forms and dried, or they may be dried as a continuous thread and then wound.

Referring now to the drawing, a continuous screen l0, formed of any suitable material chemically resistant to the liquids employed in treating the thread, is supported between a pair of rotatable drums H and is provided with aprons 9 extending along the length of the screen I0. Either one or both of the drums H may be positively driven. A hopper l2, positioned at the feed end of the screen It, is provided with a discharge opening I: which extends laterally across the screen It. A vertically adjustable plate I! defines the trailing edge of the opening I! and determines the thickness of a sheet of granular material to be deposited on the screen It. The hopper I2 is filled with a charge of granular material such as silica, glass beads, or other similar chemical resistant material which is deposited as a sheet upon the moving screen l0. The granular-material is dropped from the discharge end oi the screen l upon a return conveyor belt I, transported to a screw conveyor or the like Ii, which in turn carries the granular material back to the hopper l2. 1

A plurality of laterally extending spray nozzles 20 are positioned above the screen l0 and connected to suitable sources of treating fluids. Further, disposed below the upper portion of the screen are the catch basins 2| associated with each corresponding set of spray nozzles 20, the liquid flowing into the catch basins 2| being either discharged or replenished and re-circulated. Moreover, a cylindrical guide 22 which is preferably positively driven, is disposed above the screen l0 adjacent to the feed end thereof and runs at a peripheral speed which is substantially greater than the transport speed of the screen l0. A second positively driven cylindrical guide 24 having the same peripheral speed as the guide 22 is disposed at the discharge end of the screen 10, and is employed to withdraw the treated thread.

Considering now the operation of the apparatus above described, a plurality of threads of freshly spun rayon filaments are led by way of the driven guide 22 and are dropped upon the sheet 23 of granular material, the sheet 23 of granular material having been previously deposited from the hopper l2 upon the screen I0. It should be noted that inasmuch as the rate of speed of the thread is greater than the advance of the screen I 0, the threads will be deposited upon the granular sheet 23 in a continuously accumulated or zigzag fashion and as such will be carried through the following liquid aftertreating stages. The thread anchors itself to the sheet of granular 'material 23 and is thus transported and exposed to the various treating liquids. With this arrangement the threads may be thoroughly treated by the liquid with little danger of damage to the filaments forming the threads. Moreover, the run-off of the treating liquids is rapid and thorough, and consequently there is very little intermixing of the various aftertreating liquids so that the difierent aftertreating liquids may follow each other in close succession.

At the discharge end of the screen l0, the individual threads may be taken up byany well known positively driven member running'at a speed equal to the peripheral speed of the guide member 22. Thereafter the thread may be wound into cakes or upon bobbins or reels and dried, or

- tially horizontal belt advancing from a feed end to a discharge end, means disposed adjacent the feed end of said belt for continuously depositing a uniform sheet of granular material upon the upper surface of said belt, a thread guide positioned above said belt and between said granular material. depositing means and said discharge end and adapted to deposit a thread upon said sheet of granular material and conveyor means extending from a point adjacent the discharge end ofsaid belt to said depositing means and above said belt and adapted to transport said granular material from the vicinity of the discharge end of said belt to said granular material deposit means.

2. An apparatus for the treatment of thread or the like comprising a driven substantially horizontal endless foraminiferous belt advancing from a feed end to a discharge end, a hopper disposed above said belt at the feed end thereof said hopper having a dischargeopening laterally extending over substantially the width of said belt and adjacent the upper surface of said belt, a thread guide disposed above said belt and between said hopper and the discharge end of said belt and adapted to deposit a thread upon said sheets of granular material and conveyor means for granular material extending from a point adiacent the discharge end of said belt to said hopper and above said discharge opening.

JOSEPH L. COSTA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Hilliard Jan. 19, 194 

